St. Anthony relic to visit parishes

RELIC TOUR ﻿A relic of St. An­thony will be coming to six parishes — Our Lady of the Lake, Sparta; St. Anthony, Pater­son; St. Mary, Dover; St. An­thony, Passaic; St. Margaret, Mor­ristown; and St. Anthony, Hawthorne — from June 10 to 14.

﻿Relic of St. Anthony of Padua coming to parishes in diocese in June

CLIFTON﻿This June, in honor of the Feast of St. Anthony of Padua, Father Paolo Floretta will bring a holy relic of St. Anthony of Padua from his Basilica in Padua, Italy, to parishes in the tri-state area.

Father Floretta will visit four dioceses: the Diocese of Paterson; the Archdiocese of New York; the Diocese of Brooklyn and the Diocese of Bridgeport, Conn., from June 6 to 14, the week during which the saint’s feast day falls — June 13. The relic tour will be in the Paterson Diocese on June 10, 12 and 14.

Devotion to St. Anthony is an accepted part of life for many people in the tri-state region, but an encounter with the relic moves it to the forefront. People describe it as a confirmation of their Catholic faith. Father Mario Conte, executive editor of The Messenger of St. Anthony, in Padua, Italy, reflected that Pope Francis, the first Jesuit pope, was deeply inspired by St. Anthony’s and St. Francis’ love, care and concern for the poor and marginalized. Pope Francis said “Relics are parts of the body of a saint which was the Temple of the Holy Spirit. Through this body, the saints practiced heroic values recognized by the Church.”

St. Anthony, who was born in 1195 and died in 1231, was a Portuguese Catholic friar belonging to the Franciscan Order. He was born and raised in a wealthy family in Lisbon. Noted by his contemporaries for his forceful preaching and expert knowledge of Scripture, he was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church in 1946.

St. Anthony was canonized a year after his death. His remains are kept in the Basilica in Padua, Italy. When St. Bonaventure presided over the opening of Anthony’s coffin in 1263, he discovered that the saint’s vocal organs were intact, including a red and soft tongue. “Oh blessed tongue that ever praised the Lord and led others to praise him!” St. Bonaventure exclaimed, “Now we can clearly see how great indeed have been your merits before God.”